Fountain-pen



Patented Feb. I4, |899.v A. A. WATERMAN.

FOUNTAIN PEN.

(Application filed Mar. B, 1897.`1 (No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR A. WATERMAN, OF ARLINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO RHODESLOCKWOOD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

FOUNTAIN-PEN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 619,701, dated February14, 1899.

Application tiled March 8, 1897. Serial No. 626,396. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR A. WATER- MAN, of Arlington, county ofMiddlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement inFountain-Pens, of which the following description,in connection with theaccompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawingsrepresenting like parts.

This invention relates to fountain pens wherein the Huid from a suitablereservoir is supplied to the pen of ordinary construction by a feeder orfeed-bar; and my invention has for its particular object the improvementof the feed-bar whereby the init-ial movement of the ink along thelongitudinal duct thereof is hastened.

Despite the fact that there are numerous ingeniously-contrived fo untain-pen feeds on the market many of them are complicated inconstruction and are made without effective reference to the essentialmeans to secure instant action when the penis putin position to write,

. and the result in a majority of cases is a slow feed movement or flowof ink exceedingly annoying to the user even when the pen hasbeen unusedfor but a very short time. This difficulty is due to the lack in theink-duct of an extensive properly-meistened ink-directing surface, sothat the passage of the ink from the reservoir down this duct is madeslow and irregular, for in this case the force of gravity acting aloneon the ink has to overcome both the retarding (or friction-like) effectof the dried surfaces of the duct and the external pressure of the air.To secure a frictionless or, as it were, a lubricated passage for theink.` I make practical use of the well-known fact that after a surfacehas been wetted by a fluid mere gravity will cause more of the fluid tospread or iiow readily over the wetted surface. I provide, therefore,for maintaining in the ink-duct of my fountain-pen feed a damp or moistink-directing surface or a contiguous series of such surfaces, and Iattain this end in my present invention by a very simple and novelmeans. I provide minute storage chambers or pits in the surface of theink-duct in the feed, these pits when once wetted with ink having atwofold function-first, that of keeping themselves moist by means of thevery strong capillary attraction in their minutest portions and overtheir surfaces, and, second, that of holding by the force of cohesionenough more ink in storage to keep the pits quite full to their mouths.Adhesion or capillary attraction then acts again to draw from the mouthsof these numerous pits enough ink in a film to cover the surface of theduct between the mouths of the pits, and so the entire surface of theink-duct is maintained moist.

The storage chambers or pits in the surfaces of the ink-duct are easilyfilled for the first time,or after being emptied for special causes, bydipping or soaking the feed in water 0r ink, or, if the ink-reservoir isalready filled, by jarring or shaking or by allowing the pen to standfora time with the point down. Thereafter with the pits once filled andthe surfaces of the duct thus made damp the moment the penholder isslanted or tipped for writing the ink is forcedinto the duct by gravity,and the same force continues to 'cause a free feed or supply of ink downthe duct to the pen as needed.

It is to be noted that the storage chambers or pits have no feedfunction-that is, to supply ink to feed the pen-but they merely providefor comparatively small storage-bodies of ink sufficient to maintain adamp or moist track when the pen is not in use to facilitate the initialmovement of the ink in the feedduct from the reservoir.

Figure 1 is alongitudinal sectional View of a fountain-pen embodying myinvention. Fig. 2 is a like View, enlarged, of my novel ink-feeder shownin Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a greatlyenlarged transverse section of the feederon the line a: Fig. 2; and Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are enlargedcross-sectional views of modified forms of ink-feeders to illustratevarious forms of feed-duct and storage chambers.

In Fig. 1 the tubular body portion A, of rubber or other suitablematerial, is preferably tapered externally at d to readily enter and litsnugly ina removable cap O when the pen is in use. The open end of thebody is threaded at a, or otherwise adapted to receive a tightly-fittingtubular holder b, which supports the inkfeeder, to be described, the penl?, of usual construction, being held between the holder and ink-feeder,the exterior IOO of the holder being tapered to receive cap C when thepen is not in use.

The feeder consists of a bar F, (shown separately in Fig. 2,) the baseportion thereof f1tting tightly in the holder b and tapering therefrom,as at j', beneath the pen, the tip f of the feeder normally resting upon the under side of the pen I), as in Fig. 1. This feed-bar is madepreferably of hard rubber, but, obviously, if made of any othersubstance its interior surfaces when iinished must not be oily orrepellent to ink. The bar is longitudinally grooved on its side next thepen, as at f2, the groove being open and gradually decreasing in depthto the tip, though it may be of uniform or irregular depth.

As herein shown, the base of the feeder F may be channeled, as at f3, incontinuation of the groove, or the groove itself may continue back tothe reservoir, said groove forming the ink-feed duct to convey the inkby gravity from the body or reservoir A to the nib of the pen.

Along the surface of the feed-duet, which I prefer to make acutelyV-shaped in crosssection, I make small pits or depressions fx, asclosely arranged as may be found convenient or necessary from the innerend of the feed-bar to near its tip. While the depressions may be of anyshape, I prefer to make them inversely conical, as shown in Fig. 3, tothe better act in retaining and storing each a small body of ink at alltimes, the surface of the feed-duct thus being provided with a number ofclosely-related pools of ink that maintain the rest of the surface dampor moist. The preferred V-shaped groove is also important, as the bottomof the very acuteangled groove acts as a storage-chamber of itself toretain or store ink therein by capillarity and cohesion as do the pitsor depressions. The various moist portions of the surface of the ductthus serve to cause a rapid initial movement of the ink from thereservoir when the pen is inverted for use, and once the flow isestablished the special function of the pits or depressions ceases,gravity feeding the ink down the duct to the nib of the pen. The feed ofthe ink to the pen tends to create a vacuum in the reservoir, suchtendency being more or less counteracted by the entrance of air passingupward through the duct, such passage of air also preventing excessiveiiow of ink, the supply of the latter to the under side of the pen beingregulated by the pressure of the pen on the stream of ink.

It is not necessary to place the pits in such close proximity to eachother as to maintain a continuous passage, as the front of the advancingstream of ink will quickly leap from one to another of the mouths of thepits in case by some accident any part of the surface between the mouthsbecomes greasy or is otherwise not able to retain its proper film ofmoisture which the mouths of the pits are eX- pected to supply.

In Fig. 4 the ink-feed duct CZ is V-shaped; but one of its walls issubstantially in a vertical plane when the pen is in use, and thestorage chambers or pits d may be in both 7o walls of the duct, asshown, or only in the inclined wall.

In Fig. 5 the feed-bar E is provided with a rectangular feed-duet e, theside walls and bottom being all provided with storage-chambers e', whilein Fig. 6 the bar I-I has a par tially-cylindrical duct h, provided withchambers h.

The inverted conical shape of the storagechambers, my preferred form, isadvantageous by reason of the greater capillary action therebyattainedin retaining the storage-bodies of ink and the larger exposed surfacethere of, and, furthermore, they are more conveniently made in suchform.

The construction and arrangement of the feed-bar may be varied, as maybe the number, size, and shape of the storage pits or chambers, withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of my invention, the gist thereofresiding in the provision of a number of minute capillary storagechambers or pits in the ink-feed duct to maintain damp or moistinciting-surfaces for the initial feed movement of the ink from thereservoir.

I-Iaving described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire t0secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. An ink-feeder for fountain-pens, consisting of a bar having alongitudinal duct too through which the ink is fed by gravity, andminute depressions or chambers in said duct, to retain and store ink atall times, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. An ink-feeder for fountain-pens, con- 105 sisting of a bar having alongitudinal duct through which the ink is fed by gravity, and inverseconical capillary chambers in the said duct, to retain and store ink atall times, to thereby present a series of moist portions, uosubstantially as described.

3. An ink-feeder for fountain-pens, consisting of a bar having alongitudinal, gravity feed-,duct for the ink, V-shaped in crosssection,and minute capillary chambers in 1 r 5 the surface of the duct, toretain and store ink therein at all times, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specication in thepresence of 12o two subscribing witnesses. y

ARTHUR A. WATERMAN.

lWitnesses:

JOHN C. EDWARDS, AUGUSTA E. DEAN.

